OTA tuner in my receiver?

[turbosat]

Been meaning to post about this for months, so here goes. On this Icon 550 receiver, which is SD only free to air, there is a menu entry in the satellite list for "Terrestrial". If I select it, like I'm setting up a satellite to scan, it switches to frequencies of 0-200mhz, or something like that. This one isn't supposed to have an ATSC receiver in it, and I'm afraid to hook up my OTA antenna to see what would happen (bad luck with such,hehe). If I take the cover off this thing and look inside, does anybody know what I would look for to see if it really has an ATSC receiver chip, or whatever in it? Have to be more than a IC chip, right?

 

[Anole]

just a guess . . .

- most SD FTA receivers have no OTA tuner (none that I know of)
- some of the HD FTA receivers have ATSC tuners, since much of the hardware is already there
- the 550 came out first quarter 2008, so it's unlikely it'd have any OTA tuner, much less ATSC...
- here's specs on the Satopia web site, and they make no mention of OTA capability.
- it's possible a similar unit sold in other markets, sharing the firmware, might have some tuner
- tuners are usually built by a tuner factory as little modules that are pre-tested and dropped into a PC board
- most tuners are 2x3x½ inch metal boxes, often standing on edge, with a coax connector sticking through the back panel (and so are modulators).

 

[turbosat]

Thanks Anole, I remembered this after reading another thread about tuners in fta boxes, and had been meaning to ask. I knew what the old analog tuners (little metal boxes you described) looked like, but just wondered if a digital tuner might come in a chip or some other form. The menu-entry on this receiver might just be left over from software that could've been engineered for another receiver, one that does definitely have ota.